Teaching Core Curriculum Content through the Arts.

Arts in elementary schools have often been separated from the core curriculum and offered as enrichment activities that are considered beneficial but not essential. This paper highlights how teaching science through the arts can help students more deeply understand core scientific concepts. Specific examples in the paper depict lessons of different lengths in a variety of science topics, art techniques, and grade levels (1-5). The paper's examples show different uses of teaching through the arts; for example, arts can help introduce a topic to students and/or help them review information they have already been studying. Finally, the paper states that this set of examples was chosen to illustrate some additional benefits of teaching through the arts such as engaging and motivating students, reaching all students (including some who are traditionally unsuccessful), and introducing students to the arts themselves. (BT)